Hello and welcome to this Yoga Nidra for morning awakening.
In this practice we invite this dawning light of your awareness to awaken the physical body and all of the layers of your being.
You can practice it first thing in the morning or at any point in your day when you feel like this fresh energy of new start is welcome.
If you're ready,
Settle down,
Find yourself in a comfortable position lying down where you will be undisturbed and where you can ease into other comfort.
Take your time,
There is no rush.
Settle into your Yoga Nidra nest.
Wiggle around,
Perhaps you're still in your bed or perhaps you are returning to this horizontal position.
Whenever you feel like you've found the place to begin,
Notice if there is a part of your body that is calling for your attention.
If there is one thing you can do to make yourself that little bit more comfortable,
It could be an adjustment of your legs,
It could be adding another prop.
Whatever you need to do and remember that while stillness is very much welcome and will likely arise throughout the practice,
You never need to feel stuck.
So if at any point you need to respond to a niggling feeling or some sort of discomfort,
You simply do that and settle back into stillness.
If you feel like this is a good time for you to invite your awareness inwards,
Perhaps closing your eyes,
Allowing for the outer world to be exactly as is,
Knowing that all noises and sounds are welcome and they can simply start fading into the background.
Knowing that there is nothing for you to do,
There is nowhere else for you to be,
There's nothing for you to achieve.
Simply being here ready to receive the gifts of this yoga nidra with your full presence is more than enough.
Allowing for your physical body to be held by the support beneath you.
There might still be some residue of the sleepiness from the night,
So maybe a yawn might feel very welcome.
And there might be also your breath wanting to be heard a little bit more.
This gentle awakening from your night time slumber.
Allowing for your breath to become a little bit more obvious and a little bit more conscious.
Inhaling and exhaling through your nose if at all possible.
Allowing for each inhale and each exhale to be a little bit longer without causing any particular strain.
You might feel this gentle constriction at the back of your throat as if you were fogging a mirror with your breath,
With your mouth closed.
Inviting this gentle sound of the ocean through your breath.
And perhaps the sound of your breath is gently vibrating through your whole body.
Gently warming up as if you were gently,
Gently starting the engine of your body after a long night's sleep.
And this gentle vibration of your breath could turn into the next level through this sound of humming that comes out with each exhalation without needing to worry about any particular sound.
Simply allowing for each exhalation to vibrate and sound a little bit louder.
Each exhalation turning itself into a gentle hum.
Perhaps starting as a very soft whisper of a hum.
And with each exhalation the humming perhaps becomes a little bit louder.
Taking a couple of rounds just like that.
Allowing for this humming to vibrate all the way from the soles of your feet through the whole legs,
The torso,
Your arms,
Your throat and your whole head.
The entire body resting here and yet alive with awareness and with vibration.
This sound waking up each cell in time.
Waking up your voice.
Waking up your heart.
You might take one last hum and then gently allowing for the sound to turn from outer expression to keep on humming and vibrating internally as if your own heart was vibrating.
And the vibration might take form in your own heart's desire.
Perhaps there is a wish for the day ahead.
Perhaps there is the simple presence to what is,
What arises.
And from this sensation your own awareness begins the journey of rising.
Rising from sleep to awakening.
Like the sun that rises from above the horizon.
The beginning of a new day in the same way that each inhalation marks the beginning of a new cycle.
Your awareness will shortly begin its journey through your physical body.
The body resting still asleep.
And as your awareness journeys through this landscape of your body it's as if it was bringing this light of the dawning sun.
Warming with brightness.
With this warm light spreading from one place to another without exception,
Without discrimination.
With this gentle loving energy of the rising sun of the dawning day.
Beginning with the light shining brightly.
The space between your eyebrows.
The light spreading to the space between your collarbones.
Filling in the little gap between the collarbones with light.
The sun spreading to the right shoulder.
Filling in the gap in your right elbow.
And brightening up all the little spaces within your right wrist.
The palm of your right hand soaked in sunshine.
And each of your fingers of the right hand filling up with the warmth of the dawning light.
Your thumb,
Index finger,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and the little finger.
The entire right arm covered in the dawning light.
Back to the space between your collarbones.
As your awareness brings the light to the left shoulder.
Into the left elbow.
Into the little spaces and gaps within the left wrist.
The sun shining inside your left palm.
And covering each of the fingertips of the left hand.
Thumb,
Index,
Middle finger,
Ring finger and the little finger.
The entire left hand and the left arm shining bright with the dawning light.
Space in between the collarbones.
Your heart center.
Bright and awake.
The right side of your chest and the left side of your chest.
The sun moving its line towards the upper belly and the lower belly.
The little hollow of your navel,
Your belly button.
The entire pelvis.
The sun making its way to the right hip.
The little hill of your right knee.
And the little caves within your right ankle.
The top of your right foot and every one of the five toes on the right foot.
The first,
Second,
Third,
Fourth and the fifth toe.
The whole right foot and the entire right leg.
Completely saturated in the daylight.
Spreading through the pelvis all the way to the left hip.
The tip of your left knee.
Left ankle.
The top of your left foot and each of the five toes on the left foot receiving the light of the dawning sun.
The first toe,
Second toe,
Third,
Fourth and the fifth toe.
The entire left foot and the left leg.
The entire body.
Your whole body covered and saturated in the dawning light,
The warm light that marks the beginning of a new day.
The right side of your body is saturated and bright with the light while the left side of the body is still falling into the darkness of the night.
Bringing all of your awareness to the right side of your body.
Lit up,
Bright,
Filled with awareness.
Now allowing for the left side of your body to be filled with light.
The day within the left side while the right side falls into darkness.
Now allowing for both halves of your body,
The right side and the left side,
To receive the daylight,
The dawning light.
Both the right and the left.
Fully awakened with the morning light.
Could you now witness this ongoing rhythm of your breath?
The cycle of inhalation that brings this light in.
And each exhalation like the sun falling behind the horizon at the end of the day.
With each inhale there is this rise in energy,
In breath and in the light.
And each exhalation is like the dimming of the switch,
The darkening.
Feeling into this constant rhythm without needing to change your breath.
Simply observing this coming and going and the change of intensity,
The change of energy that comes about.
Could you welcome now this awakening energy of inhalation to come through the right side of your body,
Through the right nostril.
Without affecting the quality of your breath.
Simply sensing into the right nostril and the right side of your body being more alive with each inhalation.
And the left side of your body,
The left nostril,
Being the conduit for the exhalation.
The inhale bringing the beginning,
The awakening through the right side of your body.
And exhale through the left nostril,
Through the left side of your body.
The air is technically moving through both nostrils.
It is your awareness that simply moves from the right side with the inhale,
With the awakening,
To the left side with each exhale,
The softening,
The restoration.
Could you now welcome the sense of light,
The brightness through every cell of your body.
What does light feel like?
If your entire body was filled with bright light,
What would that be like?
What would it be like to embody this morning light in every cell of your body?
And now,
What would it be like to welcome darkness,
The utter darkness of the pure night?
As if all the lights within your cells turned off and turned to pure black darkness.
What does darkness feel like?
Knowing that one is not good or bad,
Could you welcome both the light and the dark to be witnessed simultaneously?
Could you welcome within your witness consciousness both the dark and the light to coexist?
And what does it feel like now to be asleep in the depth of your night sleep?
What does it feel like to welcome this heaviness,
The innocent emptiness of the deep sleep?
Can you sense into the sleepiness within you,
Perhaps the lingering?
And now welcoming the sense of awakening,
Being bright,
Awake,
Alert.
What does it feel like to be completely awake and alert?
The energy moving through your body,
The clarity of mind,
The utter awakeness,
What does that feel like?
And what if you could feel awake and alert and yet asleep,
Resting?
What would that be like to be alert and asleep,
Awake and resting simultaneously?
Releasing any effort,
Can you simply rest back in what is?
The state of yoga nidra,
The liminal space between sleeping and awakening.
Simply allowing yourself to witness what arises.
You might reconnect with your heart's desire,
Or perhaps the wish for your day ahead.
And welcoming the dawning of your own breath to start bringing about the true awakening.
Allowing for your breath to be this bridge to the day ahead.
And perhaps your breath,
Once again,
Wants to find its own sound,
Like the birds bringing about the beginning of a new day with the birdsong.
Allowing for each exhalation to start humming,
Shaking off any last remainders of the stagnant energy of the night.
Allowing for the gentle hum to begin within and travel out.
Perhaps taking three more hums like that,
Each in one of them a little bit louder than the one before.
And maybe your last hum turns into a yawn,
And the yawn turns into a full body stretch.
As your body finds its alert state,
Perhaps your eyes can still remain closed for a while longer as you find your way towards a more upright position.
Finding yourself in the seated position,
To close this practice with three breaths of gratitude.
Placing your right hand in your heart centre.
This first breath is acknowledging and honouring yourself,
But showing up for bringing your full presence to every day,
Starting at the beginning.
Take an inhale,
Exhale for yourself.
Left hand joins the right on top.
The second breath is the gratitude for your support,
For all those in your life that support you.
Take an inhale,
And exhale.
Bringing the palms to touch at your heart centre,
This last final breath is the gratitude and acknowledgement for the practice itself.
Take an inhale,
And exhale.
If you would like,
You can rub the palms together,
And bringing the palms of your hands over your eyes.
Closing your eyes,
So that when you slowly start to open the eyelids,
You're first starting in darkness.
And then gently you can start opening and creating spaces between the fingers,
So that the real light of the sun can start entering.
So that when you feel ready,
You can remove the palms of your hands,
And welcome the everyday,
The beginning of a new day fully.
As this yoga nidra is now complete.
